Unexpected Landing
by jennytork
Summary: Season Six AU. Dean is the recipient of a gift he never dared even dream of. The lengths some people will go to for their family is amazing.


Dean was back on the road with Sam, while still having a home base with Lisa and Ben.

Only now that home base was in Sioux Falls, close to Bobby. And Sam had come back from his two-month stint in Hell with his soul intact – after a few horrible nightmares, Dean had had Cas check – but suffering from one last strike from Lucifer.

In what he thought was an act of mercy, Michael had stripped Sam's system, completely and permanently cleansing him of the demon blood. But in doing that, he had stripped Sam of the ability to be Lucifer's vessel.

Lucifer took his fury out on the body he could no longer inhabit. When he tired of abusing Sam physically, he would strip him of one or more of his senses.

That was what was going on when Balthazar finally located a way to pull Sam from the Cage. That was why Sam arrived back on Earth completely deaf.

Dean had asked about Adam once, and had been reassured that he was nowhere in the Cage. Michael had sent him on to Heaven when he had taken over the third Winchester brother's body. That was tremendous relief to both brothers.

Dean kissed Lisa goodbye, hugged Ben and told him to stay _home_ Friday night, and then he got into the Impala and drove across the border to Kansas. He pulled up outside the motel and knocked on room 130.

Cas – half-dressed, with his hair showing the damp curliness that showed he'd just come from the shower – opened the door and smiled. "Hey. He's in the shower," he said as he stepped aside to let Dean in.

Dean took off his jacket and smiled, then went over and flashed the bathroom lights three times.

"Hey, Dean!" Sam's voice roared out over the sound of the shower. "Be out soon!"

He flashed the lights once more, then came back into the main room. "How's he doin'?"

"Fine," Cas said, finishing buttoning his blue shirt and tugging on his boots. "He's still having nightmares, but that's nothing new."

Bringing Sam out of the Cage – and making certain his soul was intact - had been one of the last acts of the war in Heaven. Gabriel had been restored and Raphael and his ranks had been severely punished.

Turns out God hadn't been as absent as everyone had assumed.

For his pride and questionable decisions, Castiel had also been reprimanded. Crowley had cut and run, and it was plain he would be disciplined. But Castiel had been given a choice: return to his existence of before with his memories of life on Earth removed, or return to Earth as a human being and live out his days as a regular joe.

Nobody had been surprised when Castiel chose the latter - except Castiel.

Cas now helped Sam adjust to life as a deaf man. That assistance enabled Dean to relax, knowing Sam's back was covered when he wasn't there.

"So," Dean asked Cas as he sat on one of the beds, "how are _you_ doing?"

"I'm doing well," Cas smiled. "I can now dig a grave in 15 minutes! Sam says soon I will be down to 10!"

Dean blinked. "Dude, our lives are really jacked up when grave-digging times are a mark of accomplishment!" As they laughed, Dean's hand moved to scratch just over his left shoulder.

Sam came out and sat beside Dean, grinning and bumping Dean's left shoulder with his right – and causing Dean to wince.

Instantly the smile fled from Sam's face. He tugged at the neck of Dean's t-shirt. "Let me see."

"Let you see what?" Dean asked, turning his face so Sam could read his lips. "Sam, stop!"

"Your shoulder – what did you do?"

"Nothing!"

"Take your shirt off."

Rolling his eyes, Dean shrugged off his t-shirt. "See? Nothing there but my tattoo and the scar Cas gave – what are you – Cas, what's he doing?"

Sam had moved behind him. He frowned and touched Dean's shoulderblade.

Dean yelped and nearly came off the bed. "What the hell-"

"Oh, hush, I barely touched you." He held out his hand. "Cas, hand me my notebook, please. There's a half-healed tattoo back here!"

"There's a _what_?" Dean gasped. "I didn't get another tattoo!"

"Apparently you did," Cas said mildly as Sam copied what he was seeing on Dean's back.

Sam came back around to sit beside Dean, and he handed him the pad. "Looks familiar?"

"Very," Dean nodded. He turned the pad so Cas could see it. "Recognise that?"

Cas nodded. "It's a variant of a binding link. Only instead of holding something _in_ \- it holds something _together_."

Sam turned back to Dean. "You didn't do this?" At Dean's headshake, he said, "Let's go talk to Lisa."

Dean nodded grimly.

 _SPN AU SPN AU SPN_

Lisa's hug to Dean was warm, as was her greeting to Sam and Cas. But her smile faded slightly at their expressions. "What is it?"

"Lisa," Dean said, sliding his arm out of his shirt and raising it up so she could see the mark on his back. "Do you know anything about this?"

Her frown deepened. "Wait...Dean, come here." She led him into the other room for a moment. As they returned, she was saying, "-wondering why it felt so strange and itchy."

Dean looked at the others. "She has one, too. Same place. Same mark. And she didn't do it."

"Then who could?" Sam asked, spreading his hands. "And why?"

Still with his face turned to Sam, Dean said, "Lisa, Cas says it's a mark to bind things _together_."

Horrified recognition leapt into her face. She looked at Dean and groaned, "Ben."

"What about Ben?" the brothers chorused, and despite the situation, Cas chuckled.

Lisa smiled slightly, then explained, "He was saying how we were finally going to be a family – a _real_ family. How now he knew you'd always come home to us."

"But how could he have tattooed the pair of you without your knowing it?" Sam asked. "It doesn't make sense!"

Cas touched his arm, and he turned to face him. "There is a ritual. Spoken every night of the three of the full moon for three months, it will bind two hearts together for life and cause tattoos to grow as a sign of the bonding."

Lisa shook her head. "Are you telling me my son did this ritual -"

"And we're _married_?" Dean yelped.

Cas shrugged. "That's what it looks like."

Dean sat heavily on the couch. Lisa sat beside him, and he smiled sheepishly at her. "Not the way I had envisioned this goin'."

"Yeah, me either." She chuckled, then frowned slightly. "But where would he have _gotten_ -"

Cas cleared his throat. "I have an idea. This ritual is _old_ \- and it's not European. I have a feeling this was supplied by my Trickster brother."

"Gabriel?" Sam gasped. "Why?"

"I think he's right," Dean said. "Think about it – it's his style _and_ it's a trick on us with a pleasant payoff. The kind of thing he does to his friends."

There was a long moment of silence, then Lisa asked, her hand resting over Dean's, "So – where do we go from here?"

"Well," Dean smiled and covered her hand with his other one. "Since we're going to be here... I'd like to talk to you about converting the garage attic space into an apartment for Sam and Cas..."

END


End file.
